


Coffee

by CupOfEarleGrey



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Coffee, F/M, Infidelity, Memories, Post-Break Up, short but not sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 18:50:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18238859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupOfEarleGrey/pseuds/CupOfEarleGrey
Summary: Harvey recollects on the pain choices can cause.





	Coffee

Harvey’s eyes fell on the cup of cold coffee. A black mark on his otherwise impeccable white desk. White light baring down on him from the high ceiling, the scent of disinfectant colouring his every breath. How many hours had it been since he had forgotten it. How many things had he forgotten in his life?

A sigh abandoned his lips as he dragged his fingers through his tousled hair. He felt tired. Worn out. There was still so much work left to do, yet he felt as though he had been working for days. His chair creaked as he stood up and the joints of his knees mimicked it. With purpose he strolled around his desk and scooped up the ice cold cup. He watched as the dark liquid slid out of sight down the drain. Setting the cup aside, he lent over the basin and sighed once again. His eyes slid shut, blocking out the eye watering glare.

It was a chilly, sunlit day. The trees whispered as the wind kissed their leaves. Her hair was whipped up around her, billowing like a tangle of seaweed underwater. He felt trapped in her gaze, unable to hide but unwilling to flee. He knew what it had meant to follow his desires, but had done so regardless. They stared at each other - the lover and the unfaithful.   
What words could he find to repair the damage he had done? What could he say to change the choices he had made? What would ever be enough? He did not know. All he knew was that he could not bear facing her like this. Not as he remembered all the things that made her so _good_.

“Why?”

He looked into her face as her lips formed the word, yet he had no answer. Why. Why had he? What could have led him to his choices? But he knew why. Yet as he thought of it, he saw how fragile and pathetic it had all been. The feeling of her indifference. Her fixation on her work. How neglected and lonely he had felt. If only he had spoken to her. If only he had been brave. Brave as she was. To risk her life for the roof above their head. To go where no other dared venture. To love him with no certainty of his in return. To face him when he had broken her heart. To ask him _why_.

“I don’t know.” He answered, but he knew it was a lie. “It was a mistake.”   
She looked away, bitterly. Once again his selfishness had harmed her. His inability to speak to her with the honesty she had always offered him. A chill entirely separate from the weather filled him completely. A chill that lingered with him to this day.

He opened his eyes, staring down at the empty basin. All that was left were a few droplets of cold coffee clinging to the drain. He could not bear to watch her in his mind's eye as she turned and walked away from him. Walked away from him and Pelican town forever. Gone where he could never reach her. All that she had left behind was countless cups of bitter, cold, untouched cups of coffee...

For he could not bear the taste that reminded him only of her.


End file.
